Facts of Life [Import]

Black Box Recorder, ??????????????? | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 3, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Import [Generic]
• ASIN: B00004NJMQ
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #449,763 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. The Art Of Driving

2. Weekend

3. The English Motorway System

4. May Queen

5. Sex Life

6. French Rock'N'Roll

7. The Facts Of Life

8. Straight Life

9. Gift Horse

10. The Deverell Twins

11. Goodnight Kiss

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The first Black Box Recorder album, 1998's England Made Me, was originally conceived by Auteurs and Baader Meinhof frontman Luke Haines as a typically baleful response to the cultural and political hysteria--respectively, Britpop and Tony Blair--then gripping Britain. Recorded with the help of former Jesus & Mary Chain drummer John Moore and singer Sarah Nixey, it did for Britpop roughly what the film Carrie did for the senior prom. The Facts of Life, the follow-up, maintains the withering glare but fixes it this time on the personal. The songs here obsess with unnerving clarity and mordant wit on the banal, cruel details of human relationships and are narrated perfectly by Nixey. Where her perfectly English-accented whisper infused England Made Me with the air of a bored aristocrat finding contemptuous amusement in the misery of others, on The Facts of Life she has located an edge of taunting viciousness all the more diabolical for being so understated. The tunes, as ever, are sweet and insidious, perhaps best thought of as Saint Etienne turned feral. Highlights on an album full of them are "English Motorway" and "The Art of Driving"--BBR triumphantly reclaiming the American rock & roll prerogative of the road song for their damp, claustrophobic homeland. The Facts of Life is a masterpiece. --Andrew Mueller

Product Description

Second album from UK indie act. Featuring Sarah Nixey on vocals & Auteurs henchmen Luke Haines & John Moore. Includes the first single/title track 'The Fact's Of Life'. 2000 release. Standard jewel case housed in a slipcase.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Find the Black Box Recorder, July 5, 2001

By 

Anthony R. Strain (Modesto, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Facts of Life (Audio CD)

You've heard of mood music? The Facts of Life is mood music with a nasty little secret. Every track is a potential conspiracy theory, every little sweetly vicious turn of phrase by Sarah Nixey a dreamscape of uncertainty, a generous slice of middle ground between the the strangely familiar and the easily contemptible. When Nixey sings "Weekend" you start to suspect creepy crawly minions under the dustcloths and throw rugs of your most deeply private sectors. This is a sucker punch of a record that knocks you off your feet and doesnt let you up until you've reevaluated everything about every relationship you've ever had.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sinister observations, May 25, 2000

By 

Bob Thompson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Facts of Life (Audio CD)

Black Box Recorder's second album is a much sunnier affair than their bleak debut album"England Made Me." While they no longer have any songs about insanity and dead children they are still writing some of the sharpest pop music around using deadpan observation.

First single "The Facts of Life" has become a minor hit know in England and deservedly so. It is at the same time uplifting and depressing in equal proportions. Lyrically it deals with the pains of adolescense but its honesty and truthfulness is what makes it so special. "No one gets through life without being hurt" and "it's just the facts of life/there's no masterplan" are good examples of the material being dealt with. Musically the song is quite dark. The harmonies are quite lovely as they gradually build over top of each other towards the end.

Elsewhere Black Box Recorder hits the mark by constantly mixing clever lyrics with the darkly affecting tunes. "The Art of Driving" satirizes a sexual relationship using driving as a metaphor while "May Queen" deals with youthful romance. Other great tunes include "Sex Life" and "French Rock N'Roll."

Sarah Nixxey's vocals are a welcome breath of fresh air. While she has a traditional "girly" voice she is not nearly as abrassive as many singers. She sometimes uses her honeyed vocals to add a decieving feeling of comfort to otherwise bleak surroundings.

Black Box Recorder's second album is certainly one of the best of 2000. The closest comparaisons can be drawn to Pulp, but musically this is darker than "This is Hardcore." Lyrically speaking BBR's frontman Luke Haines is possibly even more brutally honest and observational than Pulp's Jarvis. Any group that can open a song with the line "they're digging up human remains in Notting Hill" and make the rest sound lovely is definitley worth investigating.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More like four and a half, June 10, 2001

By 

Blane (Brooklyn, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Facts of Life (Audio CD)

Black Box Recorder fascinated me from the moment I saw the video for "child psychology". They are probably one of the most interesting bands releasing music. "The Facts of Life", the latest offering after the simply superb debut "England Made Me", did not disappoint me. We start the album with the almost tongue and cheek sexiness (the la-da-da's of The Art of Driving), move into a beautiful lament (The English Motorway System), and rock out with instant popness on other tracks (Sex Life, The Facts of Life). The whole album is rather great, and surpasses their debut. My favourite tracks are The Gift Horse and The English Motorway System. The bonus tracks make you wonder why they weren't included in the whole. "Goodnight Kiss" is a beautiful song about that nervous moment before you lean in after a long date. Highly suggested.